Last week, a week of rumours, there was one floating around suggesting that a new, reborn Dodge Viper could see the light of day.
Many fans of performance cars got their hopes up, but the joy proved short-lived. The Viper will not be back…. at least for now.
During a discussion with automotive journalists following the big day of presentations to company shareholders this past Friday, FCA Group CEO confirmed that the iconic model was nowhere near making a comeback.
Two journalists who were there, Todd Lassa from Automobile Magazine and Eric Laurence of the Detroit Free Press, reported essentially the same declaration from Marchionne. In short, the outgoing executive explained that the Viper was not going to return to the Dodge lineup because the car was not selling enough and was simply not profitable.
He did take the time to mention that he would be entirely pleased if his successor at the FCA Group could find a way to bring it back and turn into a money-maker. The long-time CEO is set to retire in April 2019.
And those rumours of a Viper returning to the lineup? They came from Car and Driver, a highly reputable source for such things.
Now, in one comment, Marchionne has laid the whole thing in the lap of the person who will replace him.
We can conclude from this that the Viper will be not be back among us in the near-future, but that it remains possible that at some future date, a new FCA boss may decide otherwise. We can also be pretty sure we haven’t heard the end of it.
It seems some models just aren’t ready to go quietly into the good night. Even when they’re officially extinct, they still manage to get talked about.
